It seems like every few months an article appears on “Ageless style – how to dress when you’re 20, 30, 40, 50, 60…”

Presumably, as life expectancy rates continue to rise, the day will arrive when we shall be faced with an article on “How to dress at 90.” The overwhelming problem with these articles, apart from the sheer ageism that they display, is that readers generally walk away from them with conflicting advice.

The “to thine own self be true” philosophy that is shown, by and large, by the subjects of these pieces contrasts starkly with the “here is a list of 10 items of clothing that are essential for anyone in their (insert age bracket here)” portion added by the magazines. It’s strange, we’re living at a period of history when personal style is encouraged and admired (thanks, in part, to the plethora of street style blogs and wardrobe websites that allow us to view outfits outside of the ones that we see in our day to day lives) yet we continue to be fascinated by “how to” articles that (were we to follow their advice) would turn us into a world of age-based clones.

Perhaps what we really need are a series of articles entitled “what to wear to enjoy life, regardless of age”.